Main menu

ScholarMatch Privacy Policy

ScholarMatch is a nonprofit educational organization (collectively “ScholarMatch” and/or the “Releasees”). ScholarMatch’s goal is to connect deserving young students with donors who wish to help them pave the financial road to higher education.

PUBLICLY VIEWABLE INFORMATION

An Important Message to our Scholars: Your privacy is yours to manage and keep, but there are times when you will want to share more about yourself. If you choose to sign up with ScholarMatch, it will be one of those times. We make every reasonable effort to insure the financial information and the identity of your family members, as well as other information submitted to ScholarMatch that is not identified below as being disclosed (“Personal Information”), will only be shared in a manner appropriate to the goals of ScholarMatch in matching deserving students with donors. That said, furthering your goal of securing funds means we share quite a bit of other information about you. We want you to be informed about what that is before you submit the information to us.

We respect your right to privacy, so if you are not comfortable displaying to the public your name, your photograph, your high school, and other personally identifiable information about yourself, then you will want to consider availing yourself of more traditional financial aid and scholarship routes.

Our experience in helping students achieve their financial goals for college has informed our decision to personalize you to the potential donors out there. Moreover, we make this information publicly viewable to reduce the barriers to potential donors. That means a lot of information will be made public about you, including:
· Your first and last name
· Your photograph
· Your hometown
· Your high school
· Your areas of interest
· Your essay
· Your favorite subjects in school
· The colleges to which you have applied

This information (“Publicly Displayed Information”) is likely to personally identify you and to identify your general location. You should not use the ScholarMatch site if your situation is not conducive to this information being made public, or if you have personal concerns that the disclosure of this information could affect your safety. ScholarMatch believes that most people who come to the ScholarMatch site are here to further the goals of Scholars, but we are realistic about the potential dangers of disclosing information about yourself through online sources. Given the amount of Publicly Displayed Information, please consider carefully whether you want to avail yourself of this site and the ScholarMatch program. Your participation must be at your own risk, with the understanding that ScholarMatch does not ultimately control who comes to visit the site and for what purpose. Before you submit your information to the site, you will be asked to acknowledge that you are uploading information that can give third parties information on where to find you. If you are under the age of 18, we will also ask you to submit verifiable parental consent that you fully understand the amount of information being made public.

Please also note that we will contact your school to confirm the information you have submitted. Prior to submitting your application, you will be required to agree to this.

Donors:

Donors are not subject to the same disclosures as scholars, and the Publicly Displayed Information outlined in this policy does not apply to donors. ScholarMatch makes commercially reasonable efforts to keep secure that information you elect not to disclose, including your name and the financial information used to make donations. Information you provide will be stored with ScholarMatch and with our trusted vendors, as outlined in this Privacy Policy.

All financial transactions on ScholarMatch are processed by PayPal, so donors will be required to set up a PayPal account to participate in the ScholarMatch program. Donors may click here to see PayPal’s policy. ScholarMatch is not affiliated with PayPal, ad we regret that we cannot vouch for the company’s policies. If you are concerned about using PayPal, ScholarMatch will accept payment in the form of a check. Please contact Executive Director Diana Adamson if you would like to make a larger donation.

Donor information you provide to us, including your contact information, will be used by our staff to process your donations and to contact you in furtherance of our scholar goals. You may opt out of receiving updates after you have made a donation by emailing: staff@scholarmatch.org with the subject line “opt out”

This site contains “cookies” that will remember you when you revisit the ScholarMatch site. Cookies are messages that web servers pass to your web browser when you visit Internet sites. Your browser stores each message in a small file, called cookie.txt. When you request another page from the server, your browser sends the cookie back to the server. These files contain information about your visit to our site, as well as any information you’ve volunteered. ScholarMatch uses cookies to track web site activity.

If you choose to disable the cookies, which you can do using your web browser, you may not be able to access some parts of the site.

Email communication:

SCHOLARS: Our goal in creating the site is to assist you in your pursuit of higher education through the ScholarMatch website. Thus, we endeavor to limit our communications with you to those germane to that endeavor. We may also send you service-related announcements on occasions when it is necessary to do so. Your email address is not disclosed to donors.

DONORS: We will endeavor to provide you information relating to assisting our young scholars. It is our policy not to sell or otherwise provide your information to third parties outside of this goal.

Technology / Security

ScholarMatch uses a variety of security measures, including encryption and authentication tools, to help maintain the confidentiality of the Personal Information you provide to us that is not otherwise made public pursuant to this Privacy Policy. This Personal Information is stored behind firewalls and is only accessible by a limited number of people who are required to keep the information confidential. While no one can definitively guarantee your information is safe, ScholarMatch believes the measures it takes to secure your information meet or exceed reasonable commercial standards.

When you post a profile or donate, we use a secure server and your personal information will be encrypted before it is transmitted over the Internet. Generally, this means that the data you provide cannot be captured or read as it travels through the Internet to our system. To the extent you select the “secure server” method and your browser supports such functionality, credit card information you supply is transmitted to PayPal by way of Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology that provides a layer of security for your information. Regardless of these efforts by us, no data transmission over the public Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

IN NO EVENT WILL SCHOLARMATCH BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES FOR ANY USE OF THIS SITE, OR ON ANY OTHER HYPERLINKED WEB SITE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY DAMGES, PERSONAL INJURY, OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF SCHOLARMATCH OR 826 NATIONAL IS EXPRESSLY ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Voluntary Disclosure

In addition to the Publicly Disclosed Information outlined in this privacy policy, you are able to make other disclosures about yourself. Any additional information or content you voluntarily disclose in public areas of ScholarMatch becomes publicly available and can be collected and used by others who have access to that area. We recommend you exercise caution and judgment before disclosing any Personal Information via these public venues.

Posting personally identifiable information, such as the Publicly Disclosed Information on any website open for public view may have an inherent level of risk of injury, personal property damage, and possible death.

By submitting your profile, you agree:

1. To waive any and all claims that you have may have now or in the future against THE RELEASEES and to release THE RELEASEES from any and all liability for any loss, damage, expense or injury, including death, that I or my Child may suffer whether foreseen or unforeseen, as a result of my Child’s use of the ScholarMatch site and program for any cause whatsoever, including gross negligence, breach of contract, or breach of any statutory or other duty of care;

2. To hold harmless and indemnify THE RELEASEES from any and all liability for any property damage or personal injury resulting from your participation in the ScholarMatch program;

To the extent that the foregoing releases are releases to which Section 1542 of the California Civil Code or similar provisions of other applicable law applies you agree the foregoing releases shall be effective as a bar to any and all actions, fees, damages, losses, claims, liabilities and demands of whatsoever character, nature and kind, known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected specified herein. In furtherance of this intention, you expressly waive any and all rights and benefits conferred upon them by the provisions of Section 1542 of the California Civil Code or similar provisions of applicable law which are as follows: "A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor."

Removal and Modification of Information

If you would like your profile removed, please email ScholarMatch at generalquestions@scholarmatch.org and request removal. Your profile will be taken down within 24 hours. Please note that if you choose to remove your profile, you will not be eligible for our ScholarMatch services. If you are a donor, your information will removed within 5 business days.

If you would like to modify information on your profile, please use the “contact” icon on the home page of the site.

Summary and Contacts

ScholarMatch reserves the right to update this privacy policy at any time. Updates to our privacy policy may be sent to the email address you provided to us and posted prominently on the website with the date the changes were made. Please note that this policy was most recently updated on April 27, 2010.